"Our not-quite-colleagues at AutoWeek are between a rock and a hard place nowadays. Back in the dinosaur days of the biz, subscribing to AW made sense. The writing was usually auto-weak, and there wasn't much insight to be found in the reviews, but it was far more timely than the rest of the color rags."
The only print mag I still get is Model Auto Review, a small model car magazine produced in Great Britain. I've been a MAR subscriber since it began publishing 30 years ago.
My "subscription" to AutoWeek came to an abrupt end when I was scammed a few years back. AutoWeek claims a paid circulation of almost 280,000. But, now that they've become an every-other-week publication, I've heard from industry friends that the "real" number is a lot lower.
I don't miss AW. By the time AutoWeek publishes something in print, it's already "old news" on the internet. As Nelson Muntz might say, "Haw-Haw. Your publication has become irrelevant."
Of course, there's still time to sign up for that overpriced "AutoWeek Fantasy Camp", including accommodations at the historic Dearborn Inn, which - like Autoweek - is well-past its sell-by date. On the plus side, it's an easy walk to the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, which might be a more interesting experience than the camp.
In related news, Hearst Corporation, the American magazine giant that publishes Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Better Homes and Gardens, has agreed to acquire more than 100 magazines from the French publisher Lagardère, including Car and Driver and Road & Track. (posted 2/1/11, permalink)
Making Change: Peter De Lorenzo, the Autoextremist, has written that the death of David E. Davis, Jr. "pretty much signals the end of the car magazine business itself."
Baloney. I've been writing about the decline of print media - including car mags - for years. So have others. Davis' demise is neither a game-changer nor a trend changer.
De Lorenzo has observed, "Over the years of doing this publication (My clarification: Peter is referring to the online-only Autoextremist, which is more of a blog than a "publication" and not a very active blog at that - it is generally updated once a week or less.), it became clear to me and countless other people in this business that the traditional print car magazines were dead - they just didn't know it yet.
Scrambling to catch-up while shoring up their online presence, the car mags tried to reinvent the model and at least get with the program, but to a bunch of enthusiasts who grew up with the monthly anticipation of waiting for their favorite car mag, the new world of the Internet turned over the content anthill, and all of a sudden there were hundreds upon hundreds of car publications to choose from, and the traditional car mags instantly got lost in the 24/7 cacophony that defines the web world today."
He concluded that "the traditional monthly print car mags are going to fade away like yesterday's news."
Well, duh. And, may I add, "Boo-freaking hoo." As Nelson Muntz might say, "Haw-Haw. Your information delivery system has become irrelevant."
Capitalism is about creative destruction. American capitalism is especially dynamic, quickly adapting new technologies and obsoleting once-solid business segments.
In the 1940s, 97% of all goods moved by rail. Today, most goods travel by truck along interstate highways. Railroads are shadows of their former mighty selves.
In 1966, I took a job at a plastics sales support lab, which employed 70 people. It no longer exists, because profit margins on plastic materials have been squeezed to the point where the company could no longer offer such a free service and because customers are now more willing to solve their own problems.
In the mid-1960s, the company I worked for had almost 40 people in their national field sales force. Now, it's probably a half-dozen or less. E-mail and the Web have profoundly changed the sales transaction process. Far fewer people are needed to service accounts.
Amazon.com has replaced the neighborhood book store. iTunes has killed the traditional record shop. Little car repair shops are dwindling as automobiles need less maintenance and have become less problem-prone. The small neighborhood cafes, diners and sub shops of the 1950s have been replaced by McDonald's and Starbucks.
The corner tavern has mostly disappeared; people now get their social interactions from Facebook. You'll have a hard time finding a pay phone these days because everyone now carries their own personal communication device.
Change can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint. And whether you're on the morning side or twilight side of the trend.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Change happens ... get used to it. (posted 3/30/11, permalink)
50-Plus Years Of Reading: While in my doctor's waiting room recently, I picked up the current issue of Motor Trend from the office's magazine rack. Almost every news piece was about something I had already read. Mostly on the net. Between the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press websites plus the many excellent blogs around, I can easily keep up-to-date about the latest car happenings.
Sometimes I bought Hot Rod and Rod & Custom, especially if they had anything about Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth in it. And, of course, Mechanix Illustrated just to read Uncle Tom McCahill. He was a wonderful writer with a great sense of humor and had something new and interesting to say every month. 